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~)HQC New} Rate:ur~ • • hlir /Avu~w.purcv ater.on~(tpac.hntg.hlm4 Okanogan Highlands Bottling Company -News Releases - August 1 I, 1999 EPA orders State to take action against water-polluting San Luis mine The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has notified Battle Mountain Gold Co. (I3MG) and the Colorado Water Quality Control Division that illegal discharges of pollutants into Rito Seco Creek at its mine in San Luis, Colorado, violate the Clean Water Act and must cease immediately.'I'he notice, dated August 10 and signed by Carol Rushin, EPA,s Assistant Regional Administrator, direc.s the State to „secure appropriate injunctive relief and collect an appropriate penalty%o within 14 days of receipt of the notice. The notice was also sent to Earth Sciences, Inc., Golden, Colo., which had conducted gold mining operations in the area before BMG and still owns land there. In October of last year, Houston-based BMG reported that a seep had developed from the west pit of the closed mine and was flowing into Rito Seco creek. EPA inspectors found four seeps during visits to the site in June. State officials had earlier directed BMG to apply for a discharge permit by March 31. BMG did not comply and the State did not pursue the issue. BMG's initial response to the problem th.s summer has been an attempt to bong the water level in the pit below that of the adjacent creek. Snow guns and sprayers, have been installed and are blowing an estimated 863,000 gallons of water into the air where much of it evaporates. This evaporative process has been approved by the State Division of Minerals and Geology which recently reported that the water level in the pit has been brought down by at least IS inches. The Costilla County Conservancy District doubts that use of this technology is little more than cosmetic. Joe Gallegos, a district board member, is also concerned about the volume of water being wasted."They're blowing away huge amounts of a precious resource that's in short supply in this dry env ronment, " he said. Both State and EPA authorities promised San Luis officials and propertyowners at meetings held in Denver on August 2, 1999, that the community,spleas for enforcement of clean water laws against BMG would be granted. "I can assure you that you have our attention - in a big way," said Max Dobson, EPA as:.istant regional administrator. The comment came towards the end of an hour-long meeting of Dodson and several oth~;r EPA officials with representatives of the Costilla County Conservancy District, other local entities antl their attorneys. Sandy Cooper, owner of the Shalom Ranch and the nearest neighbor to the now-closed mine told Dobson, "As taxpayers, we demand that you do something about this problem before someone or something dies. We don't want another Summitville here." BMG extracted ore at the mine, located three miles upstream from Colorado's oldest community, during the 1990s. The company has a history of violations at the San Luis Valley mine, most involving unpermitted levels of cyanide. I rtf l o,~„r.n ...~ ,.,